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NSW authorities have levied a penalty against an US-based online influencer and served two traffic infringement notices for reported negligent driving after a large group of electric bicycle users converged on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during peak-hour traffic on Tuesday.

The Event: An Illegal Gathering

A group of around 40 individuals riding e-bikes and motorcycles proceeded along the bridge’s main deck, an area where bicycle riding is banned. The riders then turned around and rode through the downtown area and Haymarket.

"This had potential for serious injury or fatalities," stated a senior police official the officer on Wednesday.

Police said they did not chase right away the riders out of concerns for public safety but rather found the group at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the city gardens, where they dispersed.

Fines Imposed for Influencer

On Saturday, police announced they had issued the American online personality known as the influencer, twenty-six, with two violation tickets for careless operation (not involving death or prior injury), with a fine of $562 and three demerit points each, connected to the bridge incident. They added that inquiries were continuing.

The personality reportedly has over 3.4m subscribers on one platform and more than 1.2 million on the social media app.

Creator's Response

The online figure gave comments to a major newspaper this week after the incident gained traction on digital platforms, saying he regretted giving "the biking community" a bad reputation.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. That was one of the safest gatherings I’ve ever seen," he told the publication. "I’m coming here as a guest, so I’m going to abide by the laws and norms of the city. When I decided to do a meet and greet it did not involve a ride-out, it was just to greet people near the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, I am to blame we ended up on the bridge and I had a decision to make: whether the group completes the entirety of the bridge and comes back, which is a crime. Or we reverse, essentially, before entering the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to go back."

Broader Context on E-Bike Regulation

The spate of electric bicycles on streets across the country has sparked increasing demands for regulation. A senior government official, Mark Butler, commented that non-compliant electric bikes were a "complete hazard on the road."

"Young people have engaged in reckless acts on bikes since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the injuries that are coming into our ERs are truly severe," he stated. "We’ve got to ensure we prevent these things coming into the country [and] police are granted the powers to take strong action, to confiscate them, to crush them, to dispose of them."

NSW recorded over two hundred injuries associated with electric bikes in the previous year. However, in the initial half of the following year, that number jumped to 233 injuries plus four deaths.